INDEPENDENT LEAGUES HAVE 52 PLAYERS TICKETED FOR MAJOR LEAGUE SPRING TRAINING

By the time all position players have reported to spring training in little more than a week, 52 players who have spent time in one or more Independent leagues will be wearing major league uniforms, records compiled by the blog IndyBaseballChatter.com reveal. This is an increase of one over last year and the number of players on 40-man rosters has jumped from 25 to 28. The rest of the players are non-roster invitees.

Forty-one pitchers are included.

The American Association tops all leagues with 20 players, four more than the Atlantic League, with eight representing the Frontier League and five the Can-Am. Several leagues no longer operating also have representation.

The list with major league affiliation and previous Independent leagues and teams, with those who started in a non-affiliated league identified with an asterisk (*) and non-roster players shown with an “n”:

Pitchers (41)—nAndrew Albers, Toronto (Quebec, Can-Am League); Dylan Axelrod, Cincinnati (Windy City, Frontier League); Craig Breslow, Boston (New Jersey, Northeast League); nBrian Broderick, Kansas City (Sugar Land, Atlantic League); n*Greg Burke, Toronto (Atlantic City, Atlantic); nAngel Castro, Oakland (Lincoln, American Association); *Aaron Crow, Miami (Fort Worth, American Association); Brandon Cunniff, Atlanta (Southern Illinois and River City, Frontier); Steve Delabar, Toronto (Brockton, Can-Am League, and Florence, Frontier); nDane DeLaRosa, Baltimore (Southern Maryland, Atlantic; El Paso, American Association; and Victoria, Orange County, Long Beach and Yuma, all Golden League); Jon Edwards, Texas (San Angelo, North American League, and Alpine, Pecos League); Luis Garcia, Philadelphia (Newark, Can-Am); nMark Hamburger, Minnesota (St. Paul, American Association); nMark Hendrickson, Baltimore (York, Atlantic); n*Luke Hochevar, Kansas City (Fort Worth, American Association); John Holdzkom, Pittsburgh (Amarillo and Sioux City, American Association, and San Angelo, United League); n*James Hoyt, Houston (Wichita, American Association, and Edinburg and Yuma, North American); Scott Kazmir, Oakland (Sugar Land, Atlantic); nLogan Kensing, Chicago-AL (Bridgeport, Atlantic); Brandon Kintzler, Milwaukee (St. Paul, American Association, and Winnipeg, Northern League); nJason Lane, San Diego (Sugar Land and Southern Maryland, Atlantic); nMitch Lively, Washington (San Angelo, United); *Chris Martin, New York-AL (Grand Prairie, American Association); Vidal Nuno, Arizona (Washington, Frontier); *James Paxton, Seattle (Grand Prairie, American Association); nScott Rice, New York Mets (York, Long Island, and Newark, Atlantic); *Tanner Roark, Washington (Southern Illinois, Frontier); nChaz Roe, Baltimore (Laredo, American Association); Drew Rucinski, Los Angeles Angels (Rockford, Frontier); nCody Satterwhite, New York-NL (Sioux City, American Association); *Tanner Scheppers, Texas (St. Paul, American Association); *Max Scherzer, Washington (Fort Worth, American Association); Bo Schultz, Toronto (Sioux Falls and Grand Prairie, American Association); nJoe Thatcher, Houston (River City, Frontier); Caleb Thielbar, Minnesota (St. Paul, American Association); *Ian Thomas, Atlanta (York, Atlantic, and Winnipeg, Northern and American Association); nJon Velasquez, New York – NL (Camden, Atlantic, and Rockland, Can-Am); Tom Wilhelmsen, Seattle (Tucson, Golden League); Jerome Williams, Philadelphia (Lancaster, Atlantic, and Long Beach, Golden); nDontrelle Willis, Milwaukee (Bridgeport and Long Island, Atlantic); Brad Ziegler, Arizona (Schaumburg, Northern).

Catchers (3) – Rene Rivera, Tampa Bay (Camden, Atlantic); nEddy Rodriguez, New York-AL (Sioux Falls and El Paso, American Association); nJose Yepez, Atlanta (Pensacola, American Association, and Gary, Northern).

Infielders (4) — n*1B-OF Chris Colabello, Toronto (Worcester and Nashua, Can-Am), *2B-SS Stephen Drew, New York-AL (Camden, Atlantic); n1B Matt Fields, Kansas City (Southern Illinois, Frontier); n1B-OF Jake Fox, Toronto (Somerset, Atlantic).

Outfielders (4) — nBen Francisco, Lancaster (Atlantic); *Daniel Nava, Boston (Chico, Golden); David Peralta, Arizona (Amarillo and Wichita, American Association, and Rio Grande Valley, North American); nAntoan Richardson, Texas (Schaumburg, Northern).

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